September 11, 2001 Oral Histories - Incite at Columbia University

Days after the attack, researchers at the Columbia Center for Oral History Research began asking New Yorkers to describe their experience of the most harrowing day in the city’s history.

The September 11, 2001 Oral Histories consist of five subprojects and programs focusing on different areas of inquiry related to the aftermath of the destruction of the World Trade Center. To date, 900 hours of interviews have been recorded with over 600 individuals.

The goal of the project was to preserve individuals’ memories before they were affected and altered by the larger narratives of the media and ensuing events. In some cases specific sectors of society were targeted for interviews, including local artists, first responders, relief workers, and many others. In other cases, interviewers were simply interested in collecting as many everyday stories of response as possible.

To better understand the longitudinal component of the project, Peter Bearman and Mary Marshall clark created a longitudinal component to the project, where interviewers would continue to speak to their subjects for a year and half.

This series of projects created a model for population-based oral histories that has remained influential in the field and work at CCOHR. Strategies and designs emerging from this project have influenced subsequent projects including the NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative, and Memory Project.

In total, the project provides a comprehensive and immediate collection of responses to the attacks. Interviews were conducted by a wide range of individuals, including our staff, professional consultants, and volunteers throughout Columbia University. 

In 2011, these oral histories were collected into a book, After the Fall: New Yorkers Remember September 11, 2001 and the Years that Followed, edited by Mary Marshall Clark, Peter Bearman, and Stephen Drury Smith.